It is jazz, with some R&B fused in there. To be entirely honest, where are the trumpets, the saxes, the trombones, the scat singers, and the wonderfully jazzy drum solos? Look at Buddy Rich-he was the BEST jazz drummer of all time wasn’t he? -CAB4 is going to smack you in the fucking face like a soundtrack from an episode of Shaft in the seventies. It has that funky, jazzy bass line happening-but fuck LOTS of metal music has that funky, jazzy base line happening. I like the bass players name though-Bunny. Bunny is a really fucking cute name for a bass player. Bunny was also the name of the character Matt Dillon played in Platoon. Remember that guy? He was a fucking killer.
This Bunny-Bunny Brunel seems like he is TRYING to compose the bass line for the fuck scene in an Austin Powers movie. This Bunny isn’t a killer. –Tony MacAlpine plays a pretty good guitar. He has some pretty decent riffs in there. He brings a bluesy feeling to CAB. Honestly though, none of the keyboard work blew me away. –The exception to my being totally pissed off about CAB is the jazz piano work of the ‘special guest’ Patrice Rushen. Patrice knows her shit and when she plays I don’t see CAB playing the chase music anymore for an episode of Shaft. Then CAB becomes some Jazzy Funky Happy good shit. –Dennis Chambers has some moments where he shines on the drums-but just some moments; my guess is that the infusion of electronic shit throws of his feel for the jazz. We have an OVERABUNDACE of Bass on this CD that SOMEHOW forces its way onto fucking center stage with every turn of the screw. The overabundance of bass throws OFF the fucking sound, massively. Yeah, so Bunny can play bass, and play it pretty fucking well. –Doesn’t anybody else get a solo? Bass was the only instrument in the seventies. Get with the program. Even fucking Shaft got a facelift in the nineties.
Let me tell you something-real horn players beat the fuck out of keyboard horns any day and THERE IS A DIFFERENCE. The R&B fusion vision could have been maintained with real horns. CAB needs to slow the fuck down and let the solo parts totally take center stage-what was fucking Bunny the closest one to the microphone? -Yes we have some technically proficient musicians here, but with the exception of Patrice Rushen I didn’t hear one fucking thing that I can’t walk into any of four clubs in Atlanta and find. The score feels like it was put together for a movie and it fails to inspire me. I would like to see four solo albums out of them and see what happens. This time I have to say no, and I hate to say no to anything on Favored because they are small and trying to preserve music, but I would not run out and make it a priority to get this one. If you ARE a jazz pianist, Patrice Rushen is outstanding and I can see why they brought her in. She is their saving grace.